The Trump administration filed a motion in the U.S. Supreme Court for permission to enforce a policy penalizing immigrants who may need public benefits, saying in an urgent request that a Second Circuit decision blocking the policy negates two earlier circuit decisions. The U.S. Department of Justice asked for reprieve from the Second Circuit’s decision earlier this month to uphold a New York federal court’s order preventing the policy from taking effect across the country, despite prior decisions from the Fourth and Ninth circuits allowing the administration to enforce the policy while multiple lawsuits challenging the rule are still pending, according to Law 360.

“The Trump administration is grasping at straws in their desperate attempt to expedite implementation of their racist wealth test for immigrants even before the government’s appeals have been heard by the circuit courts,” said the Make the Road New York v. Cuccinelli litigation team (the Center for Constitutional Rights, The Legal Aid Society, and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP filed the lawsuit on behalf of Make the Road New York, African Services Committee, Asian American Federation, Catholic Charities Community Services, and Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC)).